Get composting this summer

RESIDENTS of Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire are being encouraged to compost more of their food and garden waste as part of International Compost Awareness Week, which runs until Sunday.

Home composting organic waste also helps to significantly reduce carbon emissions, and can also be used as an effective way for residents to help reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. Also, according to Recycle Now, composting at home for just one year can save global warming gases equivalent to all the CO2 a kettle produces annually, or a washing machine produces in three months.

As part of Compost Awareness Week, staff from the Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Service between Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District Councils will be on hand with advice, leaflets and kitchen caddies. They’ll be meeting shoppers at Sainsbury’s at Eddington, in the University of Cambridge’s North West Cambridge Development, on Friday (10 May) from 3pm until 5pm.

Residents can put all food waste, including bones, dairy, fish and meat as well as peelings into their green wheelie bin, along with grass clippings and other plant material from the garden. This is composted at the Amey Waste Management Park near Waterbeach, to make soil conditioner, which can then be collected by residents for free, subject to availability.

Head of the Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Service Trevor Nicoll said: “Composting is nature’s own recycling system. It’s a fantastic way to turn kitchen scraps and garden trimmings into nutrient-rich compost, whether you have your own garden or not. We try to make it easy for residents to compost their food waste by providing kitchen caddies free of charge. These can be collected from the Guildhall, Mandela House or City Homes by Cambridge residents, or from South Cambridgeshire Hall in Cambourne by South Cambridgeshire residents."

Councils across Cambridgeshire advise residents to wrap food waste in newspaper or paper bags before putting it in their green wheelie bins.